This article argues that while we know that the demand for land and natural resources has significantly accelerated in the last decade;it remains very difficult to gauge the exact size of the land rush. Many studies that look into how much land is affected give vastly diverging numbers. Local elites and diaspora investors are known for controlling large areas in their home countries and their activities tend to be even less transparent than those of international investors. Many studies choose not to include domestic investors.

This study examines how Senegalese CSOs operating within the framework for dialogue and action on land in Senegal (CRAFS) mobilised around the process of formulating a draft land reform;led by the National Land Reform Commission (CNRF) between 2014 and 2016. After describing how members of CRAFS contributed to the debate on the need for an inclusive land reform and their active and critical contributions to the CNRF process;the paper analyses the achievements and limitations of their engagement in the process and the lessons learned from it.

The author has now run this site as an absolute dictator for 20 years;first in Oxfam space (2000-12) and since 2012 in Mokoro space. The article covers the origins of the site;the various motivations and the important role of changing technologies. The site is essentially a place to disseminate arguments in favour of pro-poor land reform and against simple solutions to complex issues. After the 2008 global financial crisis it included work on the impact of the global land grab on Africa.

Introduces a new IIED blog series looking at principles to strengthen women’s land rights. Over the past 15 years pressures on land across sub-Saharan Africa have increased and these have tended to affect women more severely as they have little control over the land they traditionally use. Awareness of the importance of women’s land rights is higher than ever and global commitments to women’s land rights have never been stronger;yet there is no consensus on which strategies most effectively strengthen women’s land rights in practice.

Land is a commodity like no other. We live on it;we grow from it;we drink from it and build our futures upon it. But we don’t share it equally. The distribution of land has long defined the gap between rich and poor. Now new data shows clearer than ever how the way in which land is being shared and managed profoundly impacts extreme and rising inequality and the achievement of women’s and girlsrights. With the largest 1 percent of farms operating more than 70 percent of the world’s farmland;it is time that we called out the problem of extreme land inequality and committed to ending it.

This report focuses on Equatorial Palm Oil (EPO);which is listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange. The authors found EPO had violated local people’s right to their land;had broken promises;used violence and threats;are pushing people further into poverty and have not been made to account for it. The report argues that the UK should create a law that will compel British companies to respect human rights and environmental sustainability in countries in which they operate;or be made to account for not doing so. The report includes a response from EPO.

Africa’s Catholic bishops have criticized the appropriation of land;natural resources and other economic assets by private companies and called on national governments to show greater concern for local community rights and needs. They said: ‘The impunity of corporate and elite capture of African land and natural resources and the damage this is doing to Africa’s food systems;to our environment;our soils;lands and water;our biodiversity;our nutrition and health is a major concern.

Argues that the COVID-19 outbreak has disrupted land governance;which is vital in achieving inclusive economic growth;sustainable development and food security. It is seriously disrupting food systems and causing delays in justice for indigenous peoples and threatening land and environmental defenders. Includes a two minute video.

A study commissioned by IIED. With less than 20 percent of landholdings in Uganda currently registered;land governance is at the forefront of a profound change as customary land is demarcated and registered. A key challenge is to ensure the equitability of this process involving gender and social equality;the protection of the poor and vulnerable comprising children and the disabled;and the environment.

Notes that a record 212 land and environmental defenders were reported killed in 2019 but believes that the real number was certainly higher. Mining;logging and agribusiness were the main drivers of this. States that ‘verifying cases from Africa continues to be difficult. Limited monitoring of the issue by civil society;media repression and localised conflict mean attacks are probably underreported in some regions.Seven were reported killed in DR Congo;Burkina Faso;Uganda;Ghana and Kenya. Makes recommendations to governments;companies and investors.

Responding to an invitation from the Cameroonian government to help design a new land legal framework;civil society stakeholders have issued multiple proposals over the years on the topics they think should be included in the new land law. The LandCam project has documented;analysed and consolidated these proposals. Building on these;the authors also developed a comprehensive and coherent vision for the new land system and have made concrete recommendations;cited in this Briefing;for Cameroonian policymakers.

Argues that the classic problematics of agrarian studies;around production;accumulation and politics;apply as much to pastoralists as they do to peasants. Processes of social differentiation and class formation;the role of wage labour and questions around mobilisation and politics are consistently relevant. However;a reflection on a large literature on pastoralism across nine world regions reveals that there are nevertheless some important contrasts with classic representations of a settled peasantry.